Who has the James Bond quality?

But while Brosnan definitely had the arrogance, he always seemed to me very stiff, uptight and self-consciously serious in the role, and he never exuded the kind of charisma that made me want to "be" that character in my fantasies — there's no panther behind his eyes. Physically, he's also very slight.

When I interviewed him in 1995 for his first Bond, GoldenEye, he misinterpreted one of my questions as an insult and came close to losing his temper. It was an awkward moment, but in the heat of it I distinctly remember thinking: If push comes to shove, I can take this guy. I certainly never felt that way about Connery.

THE FINAL ACCOUNTING

In the end, it always gets back to Connery. Bill Gates once famously said that he was a member of a generation "to whom James Bond will always be Sean Connery," and this generational prejudice certainly colors my opinion of things.

But I stand witness to the fact that Connery is the only one of these five actors who is truly impressive and intimidating in person, and he's the only one who's had an A-list movie-star career outside of Bond. (Indeed, he's had it for 44 years and, at age 76, he's still a major box-office star.)

He created the Bond mold out of his personality, and none of his successors was able to successfully pour himself into it or create anything half as interesting as an alternative. This is why none of the Connery-less Bond films has ever completely worked — even though, granted, they each have their moments and the style is always fun to revisit.

How will Craig fare in this saga of frustration? Time will tell. He definitely has some of the panther in him, and he's made a good start. But his lack of natural elegance and leading-man stature is likely to grind on our nerves once the novelty of his "blunt-instrument" Bond wears off.

My guess is he'll make a few Bonds and slip away. Like his four predecessors — all of whom resigned the part — he's likely to find that the challenge of duplicating one of the movies' great star turns is an impossible, and ultimately thankless, task.